[...] thesauri are collections of terms with generally agreed-on semantics and not individual definitions or representations of a concept (Doerr and Kalomoirakis 2000). Well-designed thesauri of cultural periods should help to: - define cultural periods and phases based on the distinct characteristics of the archaeol ogical contexts that are used by the respective scientific community to identify their unity, rather than by time and place, - organize the relevant archaeological information about periods in a consistent and comprehensible form in a computerized environment, - classify museums objects w ith respect to chronology consistently, in particular between different geographical areas, - identify finds and assess chro nology in archaeological research and excavations - facilitate better communication and knowledge sharing about periods between ar chaeologists, through a standard representational structure.